Keyboards are used on many handheld devices, including telephones and mobile communication devices. The size of keyboards has been reduced over the years, as newer, smaller devices have become popular. Cell phones, for example, are now sized to fit in one's pocket or the palm of the hand. As the size of the devices has decreased, so has the size of the keyboards and the keys on the keyboard. As the size of the keys has decreased, it has become harder for a user to accurately select the desired keys, since large fingers have a tendency to depress more than one key at a time. Care must be taken to select the proper key when small keyboards are utilized.
In addition to smaller devices, larger keyboards have also become more popular. As the frequency of text messaging and wireless email transmission has increased, text-entry keyboards have become a necessity. As a result, many manufacturers are utilizing full alphabetic keyboards on their devices in arrangements that are familiar to users. Different standard alphabetic keyboard arrangements are known. The most widely used English-language alphabetic key arrangement is the QWERTY arrangement. Other types of standard English-language alphabetic key arrangements include QWERTZ, AZERTY and DVORAK, among other known arrangements. Mobile communication devices also utilize numbers for placing telephone calls. Numbers can be arranged on keyboards as a standard telephone keypad arrangement, or as a standard numeric keypad arrangement. The numeric keys may share keys with alphabetic characters, or may be positioned on separate keys. Alternatively, numbers can share or be arranged above the top row of letters, such as in a conventional typewriter keyboard. In addition to full size alphabetic keyboards, reduced size keyboards are also utilized, where the keyboard utilizes fewer rows or columns than the standard alphabetic arrangement. A known reduced size keyboard is present on a telephone, where the letters are arranged in alphabetic order.
When selecting keys on a mobile communication device keyboard, it is often easier for a user to properly depress keys around the periphery of the keyboard than it is to depress keys in the interior of the key arrangement. Keys on the periphery of the keyboard typically are not situated next to other keys, and a user's finger will typically span the selected key and a portion of the housing of the device. In contrast, in the interior of the keyboard, a user's finger is more likely to span more than one key and may occasionally improperly depress a key. This is a nuisance for a user, who must then correct this error.